RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New Mexico >> Colfax County >> Agua Fria >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Agua Fria, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Agua Fria and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Agua Fria:
    • 36.430032, -105.298898
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Agua Fria
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Colfax County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colfax County
    • Since Agua Fria is near Taos County and also Mora County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taos County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mora County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Agua Fria

Communities Also Named Agua Fria ...

We found five communities that are also named Agua Fria.

There is one other community in New Mexico that is also named Agua Fria.

Beyond New Mexico, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In New Mexico ...
    • Santa Fe County
      • This Agua Fria is located in Santa Fe County and lies 67 miles [107.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Agua Fria that is located in Colfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Fe County community of Agua Fria.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This Agua Fria is located in Maricopa County and lies 441 miles [709.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Agua Fria that is located in Colfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Agua Fria.
      • Yavapai County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arizona community of Agua Fria [Yavapai County].
    • California
      • Mariposa County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Agua Fria [Mariposa County].
      • San Bernardino County
      • This Agua Fria is located in San Bernardino County and lies 687 miles [1,105.6 km]<1> to the west of the Agua Fria that is located in Colfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Agua Fria.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Agua Fria ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Angel Fire
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Deep Tunnel ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Deep Tunnel is located in Colfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Tunnel
  • Eagle Nest
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Elizabethtown ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Elizabethtown is located in Colfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabethtown
  • Hematite ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Hematite is located in Colfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hematite
  • Idlewild
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Idlewild is located in Colfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlewild
  • Lakeview Pines
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lakeview Pines is located in Colfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Pines
  • Shady Brook
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Shady Brook is located in Taos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Brook
  • Twining ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Twining is located in Taos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twining
  • Virginia City ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Virginia City is located in Colfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia City

How Far From Agua Fria to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Agua Fria to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Agua Fria once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Agua Fria and extending to:

  • Raton, which is the Seat of Colfax County, lies 57 miles [91.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Agua Fria to Raton, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 63 miles [101.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,547 miles [2,489.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 61 days and walking would take 88 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,072 miles [11,381.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,832 miles [12,604.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,747 miles [9,248.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Agua Fria) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Agua Fria could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Agua Fria, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Agua Fria to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Agua Fria. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.4300, Longitude: -105.2989       In this case, the coordinates for Agua Fria have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.406 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.542 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.449 degrees.